Arbutus Hotel Website Spotlight
Overview
Our Objective
The Challenge
- Strike a balance between showcasing the historical charm of the hotel while also showing the modern amenities.
- Reflect the excellent location of the hotel and provide an experience reflecting the beauty of Killarney.
- Optimise for user experience, including increasing webpage load speed.
Process
Our first step in building this website was doing research with the hotel. We knew from the outset that understanding the unique features and cultural significance of the hotel was crucial.
We spoke to the team at The Arbutus Hotel to gain insights into their values and aspirations. We learned about their target audience of culturally curious travellers.
Our primary goal was to bridge the gap between the hotel’s rich history and its modern, comfortable accommodation.
We also highlighted The Arbutus Hotel’s connection to the local Killarney area, with its proximity to numerous points of interest and public transport routes.
Our website is a modern take on traditional Irish design. You’ll notice subtle nods to Irish culture, including the use of the Irish language. We’ve designed it to be both visually appealing and easy to navigate.
With so many important aspects to showcase, creating a seamless user experience was paramount. We prioritised a simple and intuitive navigation and responsiveness, as their previous website suffered from slow loading times.
We made the website easy to manage by building simple templates that the hotel staff could use to update the site if they chose to do so. We also added tools to automatically improve image quality and loading speed, keeping the website fast and looking great.
Results
The results of our efforts were that the website received an increase in online traffic, and an increase in engaged user time while on the website.
The new website is loading faster than the original and scores higher on Google core web vitals. The number of events per user has increased suggesting users are engaging with the content more and viewing more pages. We have also seen an increase in the number of people visiting the booking engine and checking dates.
Importantly, our design initiatives empowered the Arbutus Hotel to solidify its brand identity. We closed the divide between their cultural heritage and contemporary hospitality standards, resulting in a well-defined value proposition that resonates with their ideal guests.
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What is the importance of SEO in web design?
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) involves structuring a website to make it more visible in search engine results. Integrating SEO into web design includes optimising the site’s structure, using proper headings, descriptive URLs, alt tags for images, and ensuring fast load times. Good SEO practices in design help attract organic traffic and improve search engine rankings.
